RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – From January to May 2022, the volume of corn exported from the Port of Paranaguá increased by 161% compared to last year. In the first five months of 2022, 1,546,247 tons of the product were shipped, compared to 591,538 tons last year, an increase of 954,709 tons.
In particular, exported volumes exceeded 500,000 tons in the last two months. In April, 537,841 tons were shipped in bulk through the Port of Paranaguá. In May, the figure was 504,286 tons. In 2021, the product was not sent in bulk in the same months.
The second corn harvest, also called safrinha, is already beginning in the state’s fields. “The need to empty silos and warehouses to accommodate the new crop explains the increase in product flow,” commented the general director of Portos do Paraná, Luiz Fernando Garcia.
He points out that part of the product that integrates the volumes shipped so far does not come from safrinha, which is about to be harvested. “This is not yet second-harvest corn. Some of it is from the first crop this year, and some are still from Safrinha 2021, which was still in storage for market reasons,” Garcia said.
The need for more space to accommodate the new crop is not the only explanation for the increase. According to corn producers at the Port of Paranaguá, the war in Ukraine has also boosted shipments. Especially in the last three months.
“Brazil is not a big exporter of the product of this window, that is, summer corn. On the other hand, Ukraine is usually a major supplier of corn during this period, which goes through the Black Sea, mainly to Africa and Europe,” explains Helder Catarino, managing director of Interalli, the leading operator of the product through the terminal in Paraná.
As a result, countries have to look for corn from other origins, including Brazil, through Paraná’s ports. “Brazil came into play because it still had stocks with good price margins. In other words, there was demand and supply,” Catarino says.
Paraná, Mato Grosso, and Mato Grosso do Sul are the main source states for corn shipped through Paraná’s ports. Egypt, Iran, Spain, South Korea, and Portugal are the main destinations for the product exported from Paranaguá.
The state is expected to produce a record 16 million tons this off-season. “To the slightly more than 2.9 million tons of the first harvest, the state will contribute almost 19 million tons, ranking second nationally,” said the Secretary of Agriculture and Supply.